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Friday, March 20, 2015

Vatican City, 20 March 2015 (VIS)- This
morning the Holy Father received in audience a delegation from the
International Commission against the Death Penalty. Below we offer
extensive extracts from the letter the Pope gave to Federico Mayor,
president of the Commission, to greet and offer his personal thanks
to all the members of the aforementioned International Commission,
the group of countries that lend their support, and all those who
collaborate in its work.

“I would like to take this
opportunity to share with you some reflections on what the Church
contributes to the humanistic efforts of the Commission. The Church's
Magisterium, based on the Sacred Scripture and the thousand-year
experience of the People of God, defends life from conception to
natural end, and supports full human dignity inasmuch as it
represents the image of God. Human life is sacred as, from its
beginning, from the first instant of conception, it is the fruit of
God's creating action”.

“States kill when they apply the
death penalty, when they send their people to war or when they carry
out extrajudicial or summary executions. They can also kill by
omission, when they fail to guarantee to their people access to the
bare essentials for life. … On some occasions it is necessary to
repel an ongoing assault proportionately to avoid damage caused by
the aggressor, and the need to neutralise him could lead to his
elimination; this is a case of legitimate defence. However, the
presuppositions of personal legitimate defence do not apply at the
social level, without risk of misinterpretation. When the death
penalty is applied, it is not for a current act of aggression, but
rather for an act committed in the past. It is also applied to
persons whose current ability to cause harm is not current, as it has
been neutralised – they are already deprived of their liberty”.

“Nowadays the death penalty is
inadmissible, no matter how serious the crime committed. It is an
offence against the inviolability of life and the dignity of the
human person, which contradicts God's plan for man and society, and
his merciful justice, and impedes the penalty from fulfilling any
just objective. It does not render justice to the victims, but rather
fosters vengeance”.

“For the rule of law, the death
penalty represents a failure, as it obliges the state to kill in the
name of justice. … Justice can never be wrought by killing a human
being. … With the application of the death penalty, the convict is
denied the possibility of to repent or make amends for the harm
caused; the possibility of confession, by which a man expresses his
inner conversion, and contrition, the gateway to atonement and
expiation, to reach an encounter with God's merciful and healing
justice. It is furthermore frequently used by totalitarian regimes
and groups of fanatics for the extermination of political dissidents,
minorities, and any subject labelled as 'dangerous' or who may be
perceived as a threat to its power or to the achievement of its
ends”.

“The death penalty is contrary to the
sentiment of humanitas and to divine mercy, which must be the model
for human justice. … There is discussion in some quarters about the
method of killing, as if it were possible to find ways of 'getting it
right'. … But there is no humane way of killing another person”.

“On the other hand, life imprisonment
entails for the prisoner the impossibility of planning a future of
freedom, and may therefore be considered as a sort of covert death
penalty, as they deprive detainees not only of their freedom, but
also of hope. However, although the penal system can stake a claim to
the time of convicted persons, it can never claim their hope”.

“Dear friends, I encourage you to
continue with your work, as the world needs witnesses of God's mercy
and tenderness, and may the Lord Jesus grant the gift of wisdom, so
that the action taken against this cruel punishment may be successful
and fruitful”.